Perspective
by Alyndra
Summary: A little character study of the Trio.


Hermione is at home in the library. It contains the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the ages, all the notable spells and deeds and stories of the past, and she can learn there, find out what happened and why it happened the way it did and how it changed things. Sometimes this comes in useful later, but that's only a side effect. How can she understand the world, after all, if she doesn't know its past?  
  
Harry loves flying. He loves the immediacy of the wind in his face and the ground below him, and one long suspended moment when nothing can touch him because he never has time to finish a thought before the broom obeys him, dodging a Bludger before the danger has time to register. When he is in the sky, he doesn't remember the past or worry about the future, because the present is all that exists.  
  
Ron plays chess, as he had learned from his grandfather. He's good at the strategy required. It's about seeing possibilities, what will happen if I go there and he goes there and then . . . no, that won't work, how about this way, and Ron knows not to worry about the past, which can't be changed, or the present, which is only a means to bring on the future.  
  
----oOo----  
  
Ron and Hermione argue, sometimes, when Ron brainstorms his possibilities and Hermione knows it couldn't happen, or Hermione spouts off some of the knowledge she's soaked up and Ron can't see how it could ever be important for the future. Harry listens and sometimes, when they've been arguing long enough, he says something that diverts the conversation back to whatever's at hand.  
  
----oOo----  
  
When Ron thinks about a person, he considers what they're likely to do, how they might act, and what could happen then. Sometimes he exaggerates, because after all anything is possible and even improbabilities are fun to consider.  
  
Harry sees all the details of his surroundings, including the people. He sees the little unconscious movements they make, and usually has a pretty good idea of what they're feeling, and conducts himself accordingly. Few things throw him off balance more than not "getting" a person.  
  
Hermione thinks about what happened to people, how they reacted, and the most probable reasons. She searches for connections to make with previous events and uses what she knows about human behavior to form a picture of what probably happened.  
  
----oOo----  
  
The three of them work on the problem of Voldemort. Of course it is Hermione who finds the spell that they need, deep in the Restricted Section but comprehensive enough to learn. Ron studies Voldemort's stronghold, and figures out how Harry can get in. But no matter how often he reworks the plan, he can't figure out how to get Harry out again, not before it's too late.  
  
It's all right, they'll keep working at it, there has to be some way.  
  
But then the news comes: the Dark Lord is gathering his forces, planning an attack in London. This is not some minor household attack, but will result in scores, likely hundreds of deaths. And when Ron and Hermione wake up in the morning and Harry's bed is empty, they know.  
  
----oOo----  
  
Later Dumbledore comes to tell them: Voldemort, and his stronghold, and all the forces he had gathered there, are utterly destroyed. It doesn't matter, not to Ron or Hermione, because Harry is too.  
  
Hermione grieves, and wonders if Voldemort had really succeeded in making Harry's past so miserable that he could choose death. She only knows that one of the few who have always been there for her is now gone  
  
Ron mourns, and wonders if the future Harry saw with Voldemort was really so bleak and hopeless that Harry had to die to prevent it. He only knows that nothing will ever be the same, not without Harry.  
  
When Dumbledore tries to comfort them, Hermione shouts at him, telling him he should have done something to prevent this. And Ron swears at him, telling him what he can do with himself, and more importantly, where to go to do it. And then if Harry were there he would have made the moment better, smoothed it over and gone on, but he isn't and the moment stretches out, getting uglier and uglier, until it snaps and they break apart.  
  
----oOo----  
  
Time goes on, as it always does, and Ron and Hermione grow up and have careers and families and keep in touch with each other, but they are never quite the same. Harry always hangs between them, as he always had and always would, and when he was alive and there or even just nearby it didn't matter because that was the way things were, but when he's gone it leaves a gaping hole between them that can never close, even if they try to pretend it doesn't exist.  
  
Hermione still looks back into the past, and Ron still looks into the future, but the present that bound them together is gone.  
  
------------ooooOOOOoooo-------------  
  
A/N: This is the first time I've tried writing anything like this. The concept of Hermione as Past, Harry as Present, and Ron as Future had been mulling around in my head for a long time, and finally it just had to get written. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. And if anyone knows how to get ff.n to double-space, please let me know : / 


End file.
